Our response to melatonin media coverage

On Friday 14 September and over the weekend that followed, a social media post and related media coverage from the charity Children with Cancer UK called for the supplement melatonin to be made available to children and young people with cancer on the NHS as part of ‘standard-of-care’ treatment.

The full press release, issued on the back of the charity’s 2018 International Scientific Conference held last week in London, is available to read here.

We are unable to comment directly on the claims made in the press release having not seen details of the trials referred to.

Certainly, as far as neuroblastoma is concerned there have been no clinical trials conducted to date involving the use of melatonin. It is our understanding that the vast majority of such clinical research has been conducted in adult cancers.

For these reasons we strongly urge any parent or carer with questions regarding the use of melatonin, or who might now be thinking about administering it to their child alongside conventional therapies, to speak with their consultant in the first instance.